Jason Blankenshiphttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog
High & Wild PhotographySat, 26 Mar 2011 20:06:59 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1Brentwood Spring Art Showhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=200
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=200#commentsSat, 26 Mar 2011 20:06:05 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=200
]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2000Dreaming in Whitehttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=120
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=120#commentsThu, 24 Mar 2011 00:49:03 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=120Yosemite, during and after a winter storm is a magical place. I have been fortunate to experience this twice before, but both times were before I was serious into photography. That said, it was these experiences that helped instill the passion for photography that I have today. Flash forward to the present. I have been dreaming about a serious winter photography trip to Yosemite for a few years now. To do it right you really have to be in Yosemite during the storm, hopefully before they close the roads, which happens much of the time. The past few years the timing of the winter storms didn’t work with my work schedule or other commitments. This year the stars aligned.

Last month I met up with Harley Goldman and spent three fabulous days in Yosemite, in the middle of a winter storm. I think the images speak for themselves. I will have more to share as I continue to work through my film.

A couple weeks back I spent a few days in Yosemite with Harley Goldman and Lon Overacker. This is becoming an annual event and we typically time the trip to coincide with the bloom of the dogwoods. I think we were about a week early on the dogwoods this year but there is always a ton to shoot in Yosemite.

The valley is so beautiful this time of year and the crowds are lighter than later in the summer. It seems we always get some sort of weather on these trips; wind, rain, hail, snow…I think we got it all this time! Nevertheless it was a great trip and I brought home a few decent images…more to come as I scan and process them.

Black Oak - El Cap Meadow

]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1070Website Updatedhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=105
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=105#commentsThu, 20 May 2010 05:05:56 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=105I finally got around to adding a bunch of new work to the website. Check it out!http://www.highandwildphoto.com/gallery.php?gallery=New%20Work
Cheers!
Jason
]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1050Balboa Island Artwalkhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=97
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=97#commentsTue, 04 May 2010 21:41:58 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=97If you are in the area on Sunday, May 16 join us at the Balboa Island Artwalk in Newport Beach! We will be located on S Bay Front near Emerald Ave. I will be displaying some new work along with some old favorites.
]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=970Thoughts on Springhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=53
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=53#commentsTue, 13 Apr 2010 18:05:32 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=53

Like many other photographers I long for spring, especially wildflower season. Until I got serious about photography I never paid much attention to the changing seasons, or lack thereof in California. Yes, we have a great mild climate but we don’t have grand changes in season like those in the north or east. You see, California(especially southern) is arid, and in many places a desert. In fact, most of our water is brought in from the wetter north or east from the Colorado river. However, with a wet winter the normally brown landscape is transformed. Parched plains and hills come alive, if only for a short time, with lush green grasses and colorful wildflowers. This is a magical time in California and as a photographer I strive to capture some of the ephemeral beauty that is spring.

The Carrizo Plain National Monument lies about 100 miles north of Los Angeles in southern San Luis Obispo county. It is a fairly remote and wild place and is also the largest single native grassland left

Carrizo Wildflowers

in California. It’s national monument status protects it from further development and provides public access to the land for recreational activities. The Temblor Range lies on the west side of the plain and rise up to around 4300′ at it’s highest. This was the area of my last photography adventure. From a distance you could see the hills covered in yellow. I’m talking huge expanses, entire hills carpeted in yellow. The closer I got the more colors became visible; purples, oranges, whites you name it. I haven’t been doing the spring fling with wildflowers for long but I have seen some

In Bloom

incredible displays in prior years. However, I would have to say this ranks up near the top, not only in terms of diversity but sheer vastness. There were literally miles and miles of flowers.

Sometimes a photograph doesn’t do justice to the awe nautre inspires. I love to shot the icon locations(Yosemite, Grand Canyon, etc) as much as anybody else, but I relish being out in nature, away from the crowds. I was free to explore and experience a truly splendid spring day with nobody else around. In fact, I didn’t see another soul for most of the day. These kinds of experiences recharge my soul. I hope that you can find something that does the same for you.

Cheers,
Jason

]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=5302010 Show Schedulehttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=43
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=43#commentsThu, 08 Apr 2010 22:57:52 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=43I’m planning on doing two shows so far this year, the Balboa Art Walk and the Laguna Beach Art-A-Fair. Check out my website for more information.

Cheers,
Jason

]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=430The Hills are Alivehttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=29
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=29#commentsThu, 01 Apr 2010 22:33:57 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=29This past weekend I headed out to the desert and met up with a couple great photographers – Harley Goldman and Michael Gordon. We spent a day in the Mecca Wilderness near Joshua Tree NP and a day down in Anza Borrego. The wind was fairly constant which made the photography challenging but it sure was nice out there. When the usually dry and barren desert comes alive it sure is a sight to behold.

First, a couple more shots from last week in central CA. I don’t recall ever seeing a white shooting star before but it sure was pretty.

Ocotillo in bloom – Anza Borrego.

I still have more images from these trips to process and some film yet to be developed. I hope to be able to get out for at least another couple days before the wildflower season ends.

Cheers!
Jason

]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=290Spring is in the airhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=26
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=26#commentsThu, 25 Mar 2010 22:30:47 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=26The spring wildflower bloom is finally starting to show thanks to the massive rainfall California received this winter. Winter has stuck around a little longer than normal so the wildflower season has been a little slow to show, but we are finally starting to see the affects of the rain. April and I headed out last weekend for a quick trip to the Carrizo Plain National Monument and the Cottonwood Canyon areas west of Bakersfield. While there was a nice carpet of yellow on the Carrizo Plain, it still seemed a bit early for peak bloom. However, Cottonwood Canyon was simply spectular.

More to come as the spring bloom progresses. Cheers! Jason

]]>http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=260Happy New Year 2010http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=23
http://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=23#commentsWed, 13 Jan 2010 22:27:41 +0000Jasonhttp://www.highandwildphoto.com/blog/?p=23April and I took off after Christmas on a roadtrip to Northern AZ and Southern UT. The plan was to hit up a bunch of spots I’ve been wanting to photograph. Intially we hooked up with Harley Goldman and Laurent Baig for a trip to the Coyote Buttes of the Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness. We knew it was was winter and it would be cold, but boy were we in for a surprise. The first night we saw as low as -3F and the pipes froze in our camper. Also, what a trip to expect red rock, instead to find a vast blanket of snow in the desert. Unfortunately(or fortunately?) all the cliche photo ops and interesting rock formations were covered in snow, making photography difficult. Alas, we did find a little bit of snow free rock, we just had to search to find it.

Harley and Laurent had already been in the area for a few days so they decided to warm their bones and head west for the Mojave National Preserve. April and I decided to take our chances and stay in AZ. So we drove. And drove. And drove some more. Most of the places on my list to photograph were covered in snow, either inaccessible or unrecoginizable. So we kept heading east, trying to find something cool to see or do. Eventually we ended up in Canyon de Chelly, AZ. What an amazing place! We stuck around for a couple days waiting for a break in the weather. It was disappointing we never got a chance to hike down into the canyon but it was still an amazing place.

The weather finally cleared on New Years Eve so we took off for Monument Valley, AZ. Not a place on my list but we were nearby so we figured we had to go check it out. We spent an afternoon and evening exploring and photographing, it was great fun and definitely worth the trip. With the weather and time of year the crowds were extremely light. To cap the day off right, just after sunset we were treated to spectacular blue moon.

We then hit the road for the Grand Canyon. We wanted to enjoy the granduer of the canyon on the first day of 2010. The canyon didn’t disappoint.